By NANCY FLORY Published on May 1, 2019
Nancy Flory
“I watched the ‘angry women’ parade and cried with the #MeToo movement, but saw no peace, no healing of hearts,” said Diane Strack. “I thought, ‘As Christian women, we’ve got to stand up and answer this.’ We are not angry. We are heartbroken over a culture that speaks of evil as normal; that threatens the future of our children.”
Diane will head up a new prayer movement for women, called She Loves Out Loud. She is also the national coordinator for She Loves Out Loud. The prayer movement will have its first gathering on February 15, 2020. It will take place at churches around the nation.
She Loves Out Loud
She Loves Out Loud began as a “personal heart call,” and grew into something much bigger. Diane’s personal heroine, Vonette Bright, co-founder of Campus Crusade for Christ (now CRU), urged Diane for years to bring women together in prayer. The last time Diane read Vonette’s book Passion for Prayer, she felt a burden to invite women across the country to pray together on the same day. She invited a handful of women to join her to seek the Lord’s heart. On a ranch in East Texas, the women put their faces to the ground and prayed.
It started with a few sisters-in-heart who believe that prayer heals, restores, and transforms. We asked ourselves, ‘What if we gathered hundreds of thousands of women across America to come together to pray in one voice for the future of our children and a healing of our nation?’ We bowed upon the earth to pray for three days, asking the Lord to bring others to join us. Each of us reached out to friends, ministries and churches, and the movement began! From coast to coast, women are calling out to us, ‘I’m in!’
Women Want to Pray
So far, the Lord has brought women from all over the United States to join the movement with Diane. She believes many more — thousands — will join as well. “I don’t think there’s anyone we’ve spoken to who hasn’t said, ‘I want to join the movement.’ … Women want to pray. They want to see the future of our children become positive. They want to see some change in the hearts of the families in our churches and our communities and our nation.”
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Diane and the other women hope the movement will become an annual event. “When we all shared our stories of hope and healing, there was always a person praying, caring. The person who loved us out loud. My husband and I can both point to a person praying specifically for us to come to salvation in Christ. The Lord brings you along to love out loud, to show your love through prayer and serving and listening. And that is the agenda for February 15, 2020.”
Prayer Across the Nation
The prayer movement will begin that day at Harvest Church in Los Angeles, then move to Dallas, Memphis, Miami, New York and end at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. She Loves Out Loud invites churches big and small to host the prayer services at their locations. They also want rescue missions, ministries and home groups to join by internet. “Each [location] will share a story of hope and healing, followed by a proclamation of Scripture and small group prayer on those verses,” said Diane. “We just want all of America to see what happens when a woman loves another person unconditionally without judgment. When she listens intently, and when she promises to pray earnestly.”
Diane and her group will fast during the week leading up to February 15, 2020. Women may join the fast through She Loves Out Loud’s YouVersion site. They may also get more information by checking out the group’s Pray With Us tab on the website. Women will break the fast by taking someone who thinks differently than they do for breakfast, lunch or coffee. “Sit down across the table and say, ‘I just wanted you to know I care about you; I am praying for you; and I’m here to listen.’ That’s going to be a big part of what we’re doing and we’re just so excited about it.”
An Awakening
While She Loves Out Loud has needs — like churches willing to host the prayer movement — many people have already volunteered to help out. “They’re excited about being on something this amazing.”
The movement is for all women. It’s spread by sister to sister. “It’s not an event, it’s not a conference, it’s not a tour. It’s a prayer movement,” explains Diane. “We are praying for this to be an historic day, an awakening throughout our nation. We welcome all women to join us and go away saying, ‘I was there as a part of it. I helped make it happen.’”
Nancy Flory is an Associate Editor at The Stream. You can follow her @NancyFlory3. And follow The Stream@StreamDotOrg.